Table of Contents

Team Check Ups - Part 2

And here we continue where we left off, with part two of our team check ups ahead of the all-kill round.

Evil Geniuses- Team Liquid (3 – 4, +1 map score)

Round 1 Lookback

Player

Race

Total Win - Loss

Ace Win - Loss

In line-up

TaeJa

6 - 2

1 - 2

6/7

JYP

5 - 3

0 - 1

7/7

Jaedong

4 - 3

—

7/7

HerO

3 - 3

—

6/7

Zenio

2 - 2

—

4/7

ThorZaIN

1 - 3

—

4/7

HuK

0 - 1

—

2/7

PuMa

0 - 3

—

6/7

IdrA

—

—

0/7

Stephano

—

—

0/7

Sea*

—

—

0/7

= 6+ line-up appearances.

= 1+ line-up appearance.

= 0 line-up appearances.*Retired

Though EG-TL had a rocky start in week 1 with a weakened lineup against the best team in the league (KT), they quickly bounced back, finishing in 4th place and positioning themselves as a strong contender for a playoff position.

One of the big questions for EG-TL this season was who their ace was going to be. With such a stacked lineup, it would be difficult to decide on just who to send in that position (First world top foreign team problems). You had the Teamliquid tag-team of Hero and Taeja. There was Stephano, the undisputed best foreigner who was not available to play last round. And then you had legendary BW player and previous Team 8 ace, Jaedong. We now know that the main EG-TL ace has been all but solidified: Taeja. With a 6-2 record, Taeja has one of the best in the league, and his ambitions to take the most wins award this season should take him far.

The other surprise ace for EG-TL is JYP. Though you wouldn't necessary expect him to be chosen as an ace in such a star-studded lineup, JYP held the second best record in EG-TL last season and was even picked as ace once. The previous round of Proleague suited him as the Proleague maps all tended to favor a certain race and lineups were easily predictable. For JYP, this meant that he was easily able dodge Terran players, completely dodging his infamously weakest match-up.

But besides Taeja and JYP, the rest of the team has not met expectations. Jaedong is not nearly as strong on EG-TL as he was on Team 8 (obligatory EG curse joke here), Puma seems to have fallen into a super-slump, HerO hasn't been able to show his full potential, and the foreigners combined only have managed to score only a single win (Go Thorzain!). All in all, EG-TL is definitely a high tier team, but they're not the clear favorites this season as everyone had predicted them to be. Yet...

With the reinforcements of Revival and Stephano, and to a lesser extent Demuslim, EG-TL's lineup feels complete. Stephano, along with Taeja, is know for his ability to all-kill entire teams by himself. Revival, EG's newest recruit, showed an amazing result two days ago, taking down FXO's three best players by himself. As a reward, he gets to face Flash in their opening match of winners league, and don't be too surprised if Revival takes the win there.

The switch to winners league was one EG-TL had probably hoped for last round when they were short on depth. Winners league is generally good for EG-TL, a team with more players who can potentially all-kill than any other team. However, at the same time, this means that EG-TL can field only four players per match, limiting the benefits of finally having their full roster in Korea. While EG-TL got exposed for their lack of depth in round one, they can now field a truly scary 6-man roster consisting of Taeja/Hero/Stephano/Jaedong/JYP/Revival, if it were still the PL format. Still, it's not like having the most top heavy roster in the Winners League is a bad consolation prize. With reinforcements and a switch in format, look for EG-TL to vastly outperform their round 1 results.

The huge X-factor here is that Stephano's arrival date doesn't seem set at all, and he could miss a few weeks of Proleague depending on how much buffer time he wants before playing Code S (the dates for which are not set either). Fantasy players, pick him at your caution (or gamble for him on your Anti-Team!).

-monk.

SK Telecom T1 (5 – 2, +5 map score)

Round 1 Lookback

Player

Race

Total Win - Loss

Ace Win - Loss

In line-up

Rain

6 - 1

2 - 0

7/7

Fantasy

6 - 2

1 - 0

7/7

soO

4 - 3

0 - 1

7/7

Best

2 - 3

—

5/7

s2

2 - 1

—

3/7

Bisu

1 - 2

—

3/7

Paralyze

1 - 1

—

2/7

Sacsri

1 - 3

—

4/7

YeongJae (JyJ)

1 - 3

—

4/7

HyuK

—

—

0/7

= 6+ line-up appearances.

= 1+ line-up appearance.

= 0 line-up appearances.

Fun fact: In the last season of Hybrid Proleague, Rain was played as the ace player about 92% of the time(11/12 times). But this season, the SKT1 ace position has become a lot more diverse with Fantasy and soO taking turns as well. And these aces are what make SKT1 shine; Rain and Fantasy are two of the best players in the league, and soO is a top Zerg as well. Unfortunately though, past these three players, there's room for improvement on the SKT1 lineup and as such, SKT1 has grown to be a very top heavy team consisting of just a three man core.

SKT1's strategy last round seemed to have been to consistently use this core and cycle around the rest of their roster. And while every player on the roster has scored at least one win, there have not been any real standouts or anyone looking like a candidate to be a solid fourth man. SKT1's supporting lineup continues to do just as well in SC2 as they did in BW: mediocre. As for the SKT1 BW aces, though Fantasy has grown into a formidable SC2 player and lived up to his BW hype, the same can't be said for Best and the legendary Bisu. While Best shows some promise, the same cannot be said for Bisu to the dismay of fangirls round the world. All we really learned from Bisu's paltry three games this round is that he doesn't know to check for in-base pylons in PvP and that he can immortal all-in (though not particularly well).

Unlike many of the other new entries, sSak was a BW player who actually got a decent amount of playtime on SKT1. Expect him to be better than the average new recruit, but not to stand out too much among SKT1's supporting players.

The real big change for SKT1 this round is the change to a 4 man winners league format. Perhaps more than any other team, SKT1 benefits the most. First is the fact that they have both Rain and Fantasy, two players that have more all-kill potential than perhaps almost anyone else in the league. Rain especially will benefit as he is widely regarded as the best Kespa player and has amazing records over other aces in the league such as Hero and Taeja.

Secondly, with only four slots per match per team, SKT1 is no longer forced to use field their lesser players, which means fewer free points given to their opponents. In contrast to standard proleague where SKT1 switched around lineups a lot, look for SKT1 to have a much more fixed lineup this round than other teams in the league. Rain, Fantasy, and soO should be close to sure picks each match and the rest of the lineup will take turns rotating in.

- monk.

Woongjin Stars (5 – 2, +9 map score)

Round 1 Lookback

Player

Race

Total Win - Loss

Ace Win - Loss

In line-up

sOs (sHy)

6 - 2

1 - 0

7/7

Soulkey

6 - 2

1 - 1

7/7

hOn_Sin (Bravo)

4 - 2

—

7/7

Zero

4 - 3

—

7/7

free

2 - 1

—

4/7

Light

2 - 0

—

3/7

NaGi

—

—

1/7

fOKINS

0 - 1

—

1/7

Flying

0 - 4

—

5/7

Hanbin

—

—

0/7

Rudy

—

—

0/7

Swift

—

—

0/7

= 6+ line-up appearances.

= 1+ line-up appearance.

= 0 line-up appearances.

Woongjin Stars' second place finish last round was a probably a surprise for most people, but not if you paid close attention to their lineup. The Stars have a very similar team composition to CJ; they both have a Zerg and Protoss ace(sOs and Soulkey vs hero[jOin] and Effort) along with an above average supporting lineup. However, the big difference between the two teams (second place vs fifth place) came from the fact that everyone on Woongjin just seemed to do slightly better than their counterparts over at CJ. Woongjin's aces all just played slightly better and so did their supporting cast.

The big surprise for Woongjin came in the form of hon_sin(Bravo). At the beginning of the season, some wondered why Bravo was being played instead of Light, a talented BW player who did quite well in Hybrid Proleague. The answer to that question seemed to have less to do with the fact that Light was slumping and more to do with the fact that Bravo is actually quite good. Other than Bravo though, sOs and Soulkey played their ace positions beautifully and Zero, free, and Light turned out to be solid supporting players.

The only exception to Woongjin's stellar performances came from Flying, one of the more experienced SC2 players on their roster. Though he had previously competed on big stages including both the GSL and OSL, Flying just seemed completely nervous and out of place in the booth. His 0-4 record probably belies his true skill though, so look for him to reawaken in a future round.

Round 2 Outlook

Of all the teams, the format switch to winners league has probably hurt Stars the most. Being a well-rounded team with a lot of depth means they want more available playing slots in order to pick off their opponents' weaker players. When you have seven good players fighting for four team slots, you're going to have a lot of talent wasted. That being said, don't look to count out Woongjin Stars out yet. Their top four slots, comprised of sOs/Soulkey/Bravo/Zero, is stronger than what most other teams can muster.

Curiously, Woongjin's first match(the opening match of round 2) is against CJ, their "lesser" counterpart. And even more interesting is the fact that the opening game will be between Woongjin's Protoss ace, sOs, and CJ's Protoss ace, herO[jOin]. In this mirror within a mirror, we'll be able to see which team can take the momentum early on in this round. Will Woongjin continue to be CJ+ or will the roles be reversed this time around?

-monk.

KT Rolster (6 – 1, +13 map score)

Round 1 Lookback

Player

Race

Total Win - Loss

Ace Win - Loss

In line-up

Flash

5 - 3

1 - 0

7/7

Stats

5 - 0

—

6/7

Action

5 - 1

—

7/7

Wooki

4 - 1

—

7/7

Crazy-Hydra

3 - 1

—

6/7

Hitman

1 - 1

—

2/7

Motive

1 - 1

—

2/7

HoeJJa

0 - 1

—

1/7

Mind

0 - 2

—

3/7

Barracks

—

—

1/7

Acasia

—

—

0/7

Miso

—

—

0/7

Penguin

—

—

0/7

Myungsik

—

—

0/7

= 6+ line-up appearances.

= 1+ line-up appearance.

= 0 line-up appearances.

KT Rolster's second-last place finish in the hybrid Proleague looks to be far in the past as the perennial title contenders returned to form with a strong, first place finish in round one.

There's something almost unreal about how closely their StarCraft II squad is starting to resemble their Brood War squads of the late 2000's. Even those unfamiliar with Brood War have heard of the legend of Flash, but the story of his supporting cast bears telling as well. Since his debut year, there has always been grumbling about how Flash takes on a disproportionate burden for KT Rolster, and how they needed to support him better. While KT Rolster never succeeded at landing the superstar partner their fans clamored for, they did manage to assemble a rotating crew of unassuming but productive players who backed Flash on their two championship runs (whether or not they could have gotten an even better bench for their money – that's always going to be up for debate).

One round into the first all-SC2 Proleague, things are progressing in the same way. Flash draws all the attention, but Stats – his right hand man since 2010 – is performing just as well while receiving not even a quarter of the fanfare. A three man committee of Action, Wooki (aka P7GAB), and Crazy-Hydra is performing spectacularly as well, despite their total lack of SC2 accomplishments elsewhere. Even their sixth men have been surprisingly decent, with Hitman (who collected an impressive bounty on Baby) and Motive going 1 – 1.

I don't mean to mislead and say the KT bench was always this good in Brood War – there have been rounds where Flash struggled alone and "child labor" jokes were told left and right. But the overall make-up of the team is distinctly similar to Flash's Brood War KT Rolster: An ace with a dominating presence leading a group of spotlight-shy, but undeniably competent followers. Though KT was never as interesting a team as the star-studded SKT or whatever band of cheeky rogues Jaedong happened to be dragging along at the time, they definitely carried themselves with the quiet confidence of their ace.

The level of performance from round 1 isn't sustainable, or else we'd see KT win the Proleague by some ridiculous, unheard of margin. But it's clear that KT Rolster is for real in the SC2 Proleague, and they're going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Round 2 Outlook

As with many of the top performers in Round One, KT Rolster takes a hit in the Winners League from being unable to exploit their depth. When you're just talking top four players, KT Rolster might not even be the fourth best team on paper, depending on who you ask. STX, Woongjin, EG-TL, SKT all have comparable level rosters at worst, and it would take only a few narrow losses to see KT Rolster tumble down the rankings (just ask CJ Entus!).

So, as it is with every single team in the Winners League, there will be a lot of weight on KT Rolster's ace to become a super-ace and carries the load for his team. Is Flash up to it?

Well, he's certainly being rated more realistically after a lot of the hot air MLG pumped into him at Dallas has been let out, which is to say most people realize he's very good player who still has some clear weaknesses. TvT is an especially glaring hole in his game with a sub 50% win rate, and teams will have snipers lined-up on every map to take him down. His TvP is excellent and should serve him well against any opponent, but his TvZ hasn't received thorough testing at the hands of top-tier opposition (he did lose to best-in-world ST_Life, but come on, that's Life). We'll be excited to see how he matches up against players like Soulkey, soO or Stephano, but we can't give him a vote of confidence that he's the all-killing ace from the BW days.

-Waxangel

Last Second Fantasy Tips

by monk.

Fantasy Proleague Round 2 is starting up and you can read about it and sign up here. But with just a few hours to go before registration is due and the matches start, here are a few but simple but helpful tips for Round 2 Winners League FPL.

By using the tables we've provided, you can estimate how many matches any given player will play. Note that this is vastly different from regular proleague due to available team slots decreasing from 6+ to 4-. All aces will probably play every match as long as their teammates don't all-kill first. Players who are not regulars will probably only get to play 1-2 matches per round, if they are lucky.

And depending on the team, non-ace regulars will get sent out a variable amount of times. For example, soO will probably almost always be sent out because SKT1 doesn't have many options. On the other hand, Bravo, Zero, free, Light, and Flying will all be competing for ~2 spots on Woongjin Stars each match, so you'll see them each about 40% as much as you did in regular proleague. Another example is Team 8, a team that consistently used the same seven players. Besides their ace, Baby, look to see all the all of the Team 8 regulars playing around 60% of the time each. With this information, you can accordingly value Woongjin players down and Team 8 players up from what you would have in regular proleague.

Pick an ace

Aces, players who are capable of going on big streaks, are the key to winners league. Not only will they, on average, score more points each time they're sent out, they'll also almost always be guaranteed to be sent out in each match.

Look at opening lineups

Players who open up are guaranteed to play at least one game in a match. Since competition for playing slots is already so competitive, this ups the value of a player dramatically. In addition, if an opening player has the potential to all-kill, he will have the opportunity to get four wins. Whereas had he been sent out somewhere in the middle and his teammates already won a few matches, he might have only gotten 1-2 points.

Don't double up on teammates too much

Unlike in regular FPL, picking three or more players from the same team is probably not a good idea in the winners league format. These players will generally step on each others' toes and steal potential wins from each other.

I just love Team Liquid.... not even read it now but I just have to say it...

"It is not a shameful thing to be unable to reach the goal. It's becoming afraid and running away, even before considering the fact that the road is long and rough, that is truly cowardly." by - Lim Yo Hwan aka SlayerS_Boxer from "Crazy as me"

Holy shit I absolutely love the picture used for the thumbnail. FlaSh on the left like "U mad? lol", Bisu on the right like "Yea he mad lololo" but Jaedong in the middle is all like "The wrath of the Tyrant will ravage your vagina".

Rooting for the two KTs to crush everyone and eventually face off in the finals again.

Holy shit I absolutely love the picture used for the thumbnail. FlaSh on the left like "U mad? lol", Bisu on the right like "Yea he mad lololo" but Jaedong in the middle is all like "The wrath of the Tyrant will ravage your vagina".

Rooting for the two KTs to crush everyone and eventually face off in the finals again.

Holy shit I absolutely love the picture used for the thumbnail. FlaSh on the left like "U mad? lol", Bisu on the right like "Yea he mad lololo" but Jaedong in the middle is all like "The wrath of the Tyrant will ravage your vagina".

Rooting for the two KTs to crush everyone and eventually face off in the finals again.

FlaSh and Bison for the win! ^^

There is only ONE KT. Beware of counterfeits.

Let's be honest here, Bison and Fantaji are doing significantly better at the moment. Of course I want KT to crush everyone but it's not as likely as it was two seasons ago... So I wouldn't mind it as much if T1 were the best, for now at least. ^^

Also I swear I'm sick of all these HerO fanbois all over the place. >_<